Wilderstein: the Creation of a Hudson River Villa, 1852-1897 by Cynthia Owen Philip

View of the Hu{/son River from Wilderslein Tower. Wilderstein: The Creation of a Hudson River Villa, 1852-1897 by Cynthia Owen Philip et so high on a bluff above the Hudson River that on a clear day the rift in the headlands thirty miles to the south can be seen from its exuberant five-story tower, Wilderstein Sstands a resplendent example of America's Queen Anne style architecture. Its intricately framed verandahs, decorated gables and rich interiors capture the playful creativity of the 1880s. The walks and gardens, laid out by the noted landscape architect Calvert Vaux, together with the gazebos, carriage house, ice house, potting shed and Gate Lodge speak of the pleasant life that was-and still is-lived at Wilderstein. The original dwelling was an ltalianate villa, built in 1852 by Thomas Holy Suckley. He had just come into a substantial inheri tance left by his father, George Suckley. George had emigrated to the United States from Sheffield, England, just after the Revolutionary War, as an agent for a manufacturer of hardware-adzes, teapots, ship's compasses, surgical instruments and even toupee pinching irons. His interests soon extended from Maine to South America This monograph was funded by the New York State Council on the Arts through a grant to Wilderstein Preservation, Inc. I should like to thank Dr. Frederick Crane who represented the Board of Wilderstein Preservation on the project. Richard Crowley, J ohn Morton Henrick, William H odgson and Alan C. Neumann also gave generously of their time and expertise. All of us owe a debt of gratitude to Margaret Lynch Suckley for her careful stewardship of Wildersiein. H er sustaining cups of tea laced with family stories were, as always, a special joy. The Hudson Valley Regional Review, September 1990, Vo lume 7, Number 2 Miss Margaret Lynch Suckley confronts herself in a mirror, ca. /895. Born at Wilderstein on December 20, /89/, Miss Suckley continues to reside there as a life tenant, having donated the property to Wilderstein Preservation in 1983. 2 The Hudson Valley Regional Review and included shipping as well as commerce. By the time he died in 1846 he had parlayed these enterprises into extensive holdings of real estate concentrated in New York City and in Rhinebeck, New York. George's first wife, Hannah Lang, died shortly after their first child was born. Soon after, he married Catherine Rutsen, who had inherited extensive lands in northwestern Dutchess County from her father who was a direct descendant of the powerful Livingston clan. George and Catherine had seven children. Only two married, and only Thomas had children. Thomas's wife was Catherine Bowne of Rhinebeck. Of their three children, only the second son, Robert Bowne, survived them. Robert took possession of Wilderstein-and the family fortune-on his father's death in 1888. Within a year he had transformed it into the grand Queen Anne mansion that rises so elegantly from its spacious lawns today. Splendid as it is, Wilderstein was built primarily as a place to raise a family. Robert and his wife, Elizabeth Philips Montgomery, also had seven children, six of whom lived to spend much of their adult life there. Friends and relatives visited frequently. What is remarkable about Wilderstein today is the deep sense of continuity it conveys. The property has been in Suckley ownership for over 138 years. The house contains the family's bicycles, doll carriages, telescopes, opera coats, photograph albums, watercolor sketches, letters, diaries, wills and account books as well as their fine furnishings, portraits and books. Even more important, Margaret Lynch Suckley, the eldest daughter of Robert and Elizabeth, born in 1891, still lives at Wilderstein. She presides over its tea table with wit, zest and grace just as her mother and her grandmother did before her. The ltalianate Villa When, in 1851, Thomas Holy Suckley decided to build a villa overlooking the Hudson River, he was forty-two years old, well educated, well-traveled, recently married and wealthy enough to live the leisurely life of a country gentleman. Thomas attended Washington College in Hartford; Connecticut. Combining family business and pleasure, he sailed around the Hom to Valparaiso, Chile, in 1834. In 1838, he travelled to the Columbia River via the Sandwich Islands, as Hawaii was then called, and, in 1848, he made the grand tour of Italy, France, Holland and Britain. When at home, he spent much of his time in New York City, living at the family house, 103 St. Mark's Place. WilderSlein 3 Thomas's marriage to Catherine Murray Bowne onJune 25, 1850, united two large, landed Rhinebeck families. Indeed, they shared a grandmother, Phoebe Carmen Rutsen Sands, making them half cous ins. Both had strong connections with New York City. Catherine's ancestor was John Bowne, one of the earliest settlers on Long Island. Her great uncle Robert Bowne established a stationery and general merchandize store on Pearl Street in 1775. (Bowne and Company flourishes as printers today; it is the oldest business still operating under its original name in New York City.) Equally important, both were devout Wesleyans. From the verve and affection of Thomas and Catherine's correspondence, it is evident that theirs was an excep tionally happy match; she was his "kitten" and his Kate; he was her "dear Tom." The handsome estate left by George Suckley was diligently man aged by Thomas's older brother, Rutsen, who gave him a basic allowance for everyday expenses with extra stipends when special circumstances arose. Because Rutsen, who never married, was affec tionate as well as competent, this system does not seem to have caused serious friction. In 1851 Thomas could count on a respectable three thousand dollars a year. There is no record of where the young Suckleys lived during their first year of marriage. In the spring of 1851, however, they rented Linwood Cottage from Dr. Federal Van Der Berg and staffed it with a cook and a coachman/handyman brought up from New York City. The cottage, the first in the Gothic style designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, was on the Foxhollow property, high above Vanderberg Cove in southwest Rhinebeck. Letters andjoumals indicate Catherine and Thomas were thoroughly delighted with their situation. Never theless, it was not long before they decided they should have a house of their own. Their main requirement was that it have a view of the river. The beauty of the Hudson was compelling. Moreover, to have a riverbank setting had become the height of fashion. The conven ience of the new railroad that promised frequent service between New York City and Albany was an added inducement. Although Rhinebeck would continue to be his principal residence, Thomas did not intend to give up his New York City connection. Despite the Suckleys' and Bownes' vast real estate holdings in Dutchess County, none of it overlooked the river. Thomas would have to buy. After having considered a property in Hyde Park and the old Kip house in the hamlet of Rhinecliff, he had the good fortune to be offered 32 114 acres situated just north of Vanderberg Cove. The land belonged to Mary Rutherford Garrettson, the only 4 The Hudson Valley Regional Review daughter of the Reverend Freeborn Garrettson, a prominent Ameri can Methodist, and his wife Catherine Livingston Garrettson, the sis ter of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, whose great estate, Clermont, was nearby in Columbia County. "Cousin Mary" was only distantly related, but the Garrettson and Suckley families had long been inti mate. Their initial bond was their strong Wesleyan faith. Mary's mother, it is said, introduced George Suckley to Catherine Rutsen; her father had died in the Suckley's New York house. The property, referred to in the deed as Homestead Farm though later called Wildercliff, had been part of the Beekman patent that came into the Livingston family through Mary's grandmother, Margaret Beekman Livingston. Because she was the last of her line-she was an only child and a spinster-Mary was happy to sell her north field to a trusted family friend. The site was one of the most beautiful on the east bank of the Hudson River. It possessed all the "rich and varied charms" extolled by the great landscape architect, Andrew Jackson Downing, whom Thomas so much admired. That the land was largely ill-suited for farming, because of its steep bluff and ravines, was an advantage. It had been most recently used to graze sheep and, with the exception of some hedgerow cedars, there were few trees to obstruct the long view down the river, so wide at that point it resembled a lake. Across the river, to the northwest, rose the purple-blue Catskill Mountains and the spires of the town of Kingston. To the north and east was the well-kept estate called Ell erslie, once Livingston property but then owned by the New York City merchant, William Kelly. On August 14, 1852, Thomas signed an agreement to pay $4,837.50, or just over $150 an acre for the land, a reasonable price, the practi cal Rutsen told him, characteristically adding: "if you have the.quan tity indicated, there will be comparatively little new fence to be made and kept up afterwards." John Warren Ritch's Design Thomas immediately engaged an architect, the young John War ren Ritch, who had made substantial renovations for Rutsen on a family owned property at 3 LeRoy Place in New York City. That Thomas chose to have an architect at all was in itself a measure of his seriousness. Excellent house plans, complete with carpenters' and masons' specifications, were readily available.

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